


the templar and the king

by captainhurricane



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 04:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5402639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainhurricane/pseuds/captainhurricane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The most unfortunate of crushes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the templar and the king

**Author's Note:**

> older fic from '12.

Ferelden certainly enjoys its peace for now. the slowly withering body of a dragon is left on top of the Fort, the roof left locked from anyone after the bodies of allies have been gathered away from there. The army scattered back to their respective homes, the companions of the Hero of Ferelden (all her immense strength showing bright and obvious from her straight posture and dark eyes, short she may have been but no way frail) to their own journeys, the Hero herself ready to start rebuilding the Grey Warden-order.

And Alistair- Cullen saw him once during the final battle when the sky was red with impending doom; Alistair had been bloody all over, but there had been steely determination in the swings of his sword even then- on the throne. Alistair, the same Alistair who used to tell silly jokes to his higher-ups during his Templar-training and didn't quite know his place from time to time. The same Alistair who would run from such huge responsibilities. It seemed incredible, silly. But the absolute, sure truth. The Warden Commander had placed Alistair on the throne, her judging him apparently worthy of it, saying that the heart is what makes a king, not cold blood. 

Cullen would have found it funny if it was just a rumour of if he hadn't seen the coronation happening, the confused little smile on his former friend's (it's not like they stopped being friends deliberately, one day they just- weren't) face as he sat down on the throne. Now, Cullen finds himself worrying instead. He shouldn't, he really shouldn't, Alistair is miles and miles away from him now (and years and years because what they had had once had stopped mattering to anyone when the world had started to crumble) and he can't do anything about it. 

The ship sways under him as it finally arrives to the port.   
"And here we are," comments a Templar somewhere near Cullen.   
"Kirkwall!" cheers another one, whose name escapes from Cullen now but he does remember said Templar has family in Kirkwall. The city of high walls and snobbish people, as the saying goes.   
"Follow," he says and is the first to walk down from the ship to solid ground. 

 

Alistair and Ferelden are far from Cullen's mind for the next weeks. Having a new position now (the word Knight-Captain still tastes weird on Cullen's tongue, it makes him feel older somehow- definitely not wiser) takes all of his time. There are recruits to be trained, Meredith to be tolerated because by the Maker, Cullen is not the sort of person to question his authorities or the world around him but something about the Knight-Commander is giving Cullen chills. But he ignores it, there are things to be done, duties to be held and he has no time to spare a thought to the life he left behind. 

 

But as it goes, as it always goes with life, things aren't easy. The refugees from the Blight-mangled Ferelden start piling in (have been piling in even before the Blight ended), tired, sad, some of them angry. Some, if not all of them, bring stories. Most of those stories feature the new King, who has started to win people's hearts for himself after the clumsy, doubtful beginning. Cullen quickly ignores any further thoughts about those rumours, those whispers. Alistair belongs to a certain part in his history when they were both merely boys, when they had a quick grope or two beneath closed doors and turned backs. The King is someone else entirely. And he's fine with that. 

*

As things go, a little hard becomes harder as doubt begins to gather in Cullen's mind. Not everything is fine behind the impeccable walls of Kirkwall, his higher up is starting to lose the honour of the Templar Order and Cullen, by the Maker, begins to think she is not right for her role after all. But that's not all, more refugees, more fights, then this Hawke-person and then... then it does happen, the interest of Ferelden is piqued and he comes. The King with a fanfare that makes him look vaguely uncomfortable. There are new lines on his face and Cullen shifts in the port and hates one tiny second the fact that he's Knight-Captain, because that means that whatever Meredith is too busy to do, she'll make Cullen do. One point to check off from the list of reasons why the Knight-Commander is losing her touch. 

"Your Highness, welcome to Kirkwall." It's a little thick, his voice, isn't it? But Alistair's face lights up instantly with recognizition. And that smile tells everything Cullen needs to know that despite the years between them and different loved ones (it's not exactly a tiny secret that the Warden Commander and the King might have had a little something during their travels) and the Blight, Alistair is still the same.   
"All this formality," Alistair says and greets him with more smiling, patting his shoulder once or twice. Cullen and the five knights with him stand up from their bowed positions at that. And if Cullen just once looks at Alistair a bit too long, nobody comments nor does he think about it. 

It's all in the past, he's the King now, you're the second-in-command to Knight-Commander, you are not a silly boy anymore. Cullen is not one to dwell in the past, so he shoves those thoughts quickly away, shoves away the remnants of a crush (crush, just a crush--) because that just doesn't do. 

Not even when the evening ends with most of the young Templars of Kirkwall, the King and Cullen ending up at one of those snobbish bars in Hightown and drinking their heads full. Maybe it's not the right thing to do but if Cullen leans on Alistair a long, tiredly happy moment, no one mentions.


End file.
